Poll

Opinion

We’ve been hearing every day for months now about the bad economy. Every night we go home to the news of more layoffs and cutbacks. We have all been impacted in some way. I know the Courier has. We have reduced staffing through attrition; as employees have resigned for different opportunities, we have restructured and asked our current employees to take on additional duties.

Have you ever wondered how an investigation really unfolds? How forensics experts analyze a crime scene? How an officer identifies a drunken driver?

The 11-week Citizens’ Academy is a free program offered by the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office to county residents. It is your behind-the-scenes tour through virtually every aspect of our criminal justice system. Participants learn in a classroom setting one night per week, with plenty of interactive activities throughout.

It has happened. You were or are going to be laid off. Your soon-to-be-last employer has informed you that you can select COBRA and pay the full 100 percent (plus 2 percent administration) of the premium. You think, “Great, I am covered.”

However, you find out 45 to 60 days later that your premium is two or three times higher than what you previously contributed. The latter is the norm. I have seen singles and families with $600 and $1,200 monthly premiums, respectively. There go your layoff-package dollars.

There’s no doubt Jan. 20, 2009, ushered in a color change. Still, racial bigotry is a stubborn, often deeply entrenched characteristic. It’s been only three weeks since the inauguration, three months since the election, and a new president couldn’t possibly jar that manner of thinking loose in such a short time. Could he?

In his terrific essay on “Politics and the English Language,” George Orwell observed that “(w)hen there is a gap between one’s real and one’s declared aims, one turns as it were instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish spurting out ink.”

Orwell spoke of a phenomenon that exists in our time as it did in his — the hijacking of language to conceal the truth behind political objectives.

The issues around immigration are complex. There’s a melting pot of experiences that led most of us here. Every immigrant has a story — often compelling and heart-wrenching. The migration from “my country” to the promise of a better life is a journey into the unknown on an uncertain path through a maze of danger and bureaucracy.

Deteriorating bridges across the state, congestion that robs us of time, declining gas taxes because cars are more efficient, and an economy on the fritz. What’s a state to do? If Gov. Bill Ritter, state Sen. Dan Gibbs and state Rep. Joe Rice have their way, we’ll go faster.

To kick off 2009, we put together a quiz based on citizen questions and some crime/quality-of-life problems we encounter regularly in Jeffco. We invite you to take the quiz and see if you know the best way to handle the following scenarios.

Q: You want to teach your young child to stay away from adults who could harm him or her. What’s a good phrase to help them remember?

Recently, the long-rumored demise of the Rocky Mountain News took another step toward reality. Announcing the paper is up for sale, the E.W. Scripps Co. signaled what may be the end an institution that has been part of Colorado for nearly 150 years.

The news hit me harder than I expected. For all the other sources of information out there, and there are many, I just can’t imagine life without the Rocky. It’s been a part of my day since I learned to read.

The 2008 presidential election created four vacancies in the U.S. Senate: Barack Obama and Joe Biden left open seats in Illinois and Delaware; the new secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, opened up a spot in New York; and of course, Sen. Ken Salazar was nominated as secretary of the interior, paving the way for Gov. Bill Ritter to appoint Michael Bennet, former head of the Denver Public Schools.

As we enter 2009, all eyes are focused on the economy. Families and businesses are looking for ways to save money and to be more efficient in these challenging days.

During these times it is important for our state leaders, as well, to demonstrate the prudent leadership that reflects our priorities. One of the ways of doing this is to limit the 2009 Legislative session to 90 days.

Several years ago, I heard former Governor Dick Lamm say that the biggest policy challenge of the 21st Century would be sustainability. At the time, I thought he was speaking primarily about environmental issues, but recent events suggest the word encompasses even more than that.

Of course, environmental sustainability remains a significant issue. As third-world countries catch up to industrialized nations, the problems connected with resource consumption and pollution will continue to grow.

A yard sign lives on in my neighborhood. It’s been up since 2001, proclaiming “United We Stand.” Passers-by can’t help but puzzle the sign’s meaning at the end of 2008. The owner’s pride exudes from the entire property, but the sign reeks of the prejudice of these last eight years.

Too much ink has been spilled analyzing the presidential election, so I’ll keep this part of my column brief. Folks were ready for change — and after eight years of George Bush’s rudderless big government-ism, I can’t say I blame them. Republicans across the nation took a hit, and rightfully so.

But what happened at the local level defied expectations, and was in many ways a setback for Democrats too.

It’s Thanksgiving and an appropriate time to reflect on giving and receiving. A day, a season, perhaps an even longer time to trade in negative dialogue and give it up for someone who has contributed so much to our lives and to many others’ as well. This year I’ve chosen to write about Gloria Steinem. She appeared in our area a couple of times during the election cycle and I felt lucky to be able to hear this icon speak in person at the Lake House.

The things we, the people of Colorado, do to our state constitution are pretty remarkable. Most informed voters know and understand how the conflicting provisions of TABOR, which restricts government collections and expenditures; Amendment 23, which mandates increased spending for K-12 education regardless of the condition of the state treasury or impact on other state programs; and the Gallagher amendment, which creates ever disparate property tax treatment of residential and commercial property ties elected officials’ hands and makes it difficult to deliver government services.

This little piggy went to the free market; after all, we were told to shop. Unfortunately some shopped “on the margin,” meaning there was no inherent value in the paper they were purchasing. Who can blame the Chinese for trying to cash out if they started to feel insecure about the lack of backing on their loans?